Once you've chosen the test system, install the suite, using install-guide-unix.html.
Please note that Windows operating system has not been tested, but it is
possible it will work, see install-guide-windows.html
for hints on installing on Windows.

Read at least the first part of runspec.html,
because runspec is the primary tool in the suite. It is used to
build the benchmarks, run them, and report on their results. You should read
at least section
1 through section
3.1 of that document.

After that, you can pick and choose which documents to read based on where
your needs may take you. The list in the next section can help you decide.
Note that the run
rules will need to be studied carefully if you plan to quote results in
public.

SPEC ACCEL provides benchmarks in source code form, which
are compiled under control of SPEC's toolset. A config file controls how
they are compiled, and also controls various settings for your tests. If you
are new to the suite, you will probably start with an existing config file,
such as one downloaded from www.spec.org/accel. Eventually, you will
either want to understand the details of what is inside that config file, or
you will want to write your own. This document tells you how.

When the benchmarks are compiled, compilation flags
(such as -O5 or -unroll) are detected and automatically reported by the
tools. A flag description file helps the tools recognize such flags and
describe them in reports. The tester is responsible for providing a flag
description file to go with his or her config file. This document tells you
how to write a flag description file.

Note that if you are just getting started with ACCEL, you
may find that your starter config file already points to a valid flags
description, via the config file flagsurl
field.

Some users prefer to avoid using the SPEC-supplied
toolset, because they have specialized tasks that require more direct access
to the benchmarks. Such tasks might include instrumenting the code, doing
performance traces, or debugging an experimental compiler. This document
describes how you can use SPEC's tools for the minimal purpose of just
generating work directories, for use as a private sandbox.

A SPEC result includes a system description. If your
system allows it, you may be able to automate part of the process of gathering
a system description. This perl script provides an example of how that might be
done. Note: some web browsers may refuse to open a file of type
".pl". If clicking on the link doesn't work, try saving the file
and opening it with your favorite text editor.

Some individual benchmark in the suite have additional documents, found in
the benchmark "Docs" subdirectory on your installed benchmark tree, or on the
ACCEL distribution media. For example, additional information about 350.md may
be found in: